The Environment Minister is appealing a court’s ruling that she must protect young people from the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions.

High school students had launched legal action to pre-empt the environment minister approving Whitehaven Coal’s expansion of the Vickery Coal Mine.

They successfully argued that federal environment minister Sussan Ley owed a duty of care to protect young people from the harms caused by carbon dioxide emissions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Justice Mordecai Bromberg's order says Ms Ley has a duty to exercise reasonable care "to avoid causing personal injury or death to persons who were under 18 years of age and ordinarily resident in Australia at the time of commencement of this proceeding arising from emissions of carbon dioxide into the earth's atmosphere".

Ms Ley has now announced she will appeal the ruling. 

More details are accessible here.